warren13 - 2015-10-29 22:02:28

Story: Seiyu's Life! gives a true insider's view of the strange little things that happen in the industry. Follow a rookie seiyu named Futaba Ichinose in her first steps into the world of professional voice acting! She might be unsure of herself, but she's is ready to make it as a professional seiyu as she makes friends, meets rivals, and sees some of her role models behind the scenes... for a small chunk of the show.

The real focus on the story: Futaba, and two other girls, Ichigo Moesaki and Rin Kohana, are founded by a company with a shady looking dude as the manager, and they end up hosting a web radio show together and form the unit, Earphones, where they work together to become famous... pop idols.

*Sigh* Where do I begin with what's wrong with this setup? The story in the beginning promises us and starts with the main lead trying to become successful at voice acting. Futaba is nervous and is at first not very good at it, but meets some friends and slowly learns with the help of her role models and friends how to do better for her acting and herself. That sounds great, it could be like Shirobako in Zuka's perspective in a way, and people always admire character's trying than actually succeeding. And it seems like they'll go that way at first, with nice pacing, character arcs, and development.

When it focuses on the Futaba and her struggles with what she has to go through, not to mention and processes of how the productions and whatnot work, its good. When it focuses on the idol stuff, its a chore to sit through, and that's like 80% of the show. It's clichéd, boring, and really could have been cut out entirely. I mean what does it have to do with voice acting? I guess it shows how the girls get less shy, but it could have been done a lot better, I mean if Castle Town Dandelion can do this right (and that show came out around the exact same time as this one), then why not you anime?

Even so, when it comes to focusing on the other girls, its not bad, but its so boring, clichéd, and uninspired. I don't know why, the pieces should be there but the execution could have been a lot stronger. The part with Rin and her childhood friend I could have liked if they didn't unintentionally make the friend into a really creepy person. And the less I say about Ichigo's, the better.

The last act pretty much has the idol parts undertake the whole show apart from the first half which tries to balance that and voice acting which still didn't work, but it still did what the show was about apparently and it tried, sadly can't say the same about the second half which focuses on the idol part wholeheartedly and uses almost every cliché you'd find from other idol anime and- I just wanted an anime which focused on voice acting god damn it XC

Oh, but then you decide to throw in worthless characters who show up once and never are seen or developed again, real voice actors who are only there to give advice to Futaba (though she should know some of this already) and do nothing else besides talk and show how awesome they are at their job and amaze Futaba (though she already knows that too), and undergo really bland and uninspired songs and dance numbers to boot, complete with generic dialogue that's like copy and paste (or ripped out from Shirobako) or something! Does this show not have anything original in its body?

It seems like it wants to be more than one thing, but it can't even do it right. And the good ideas they do have, they always seem to cast it aside with the bad stuff. Even the ending is just a cheap ploy at your heartstrings (though you just can't bring yourself to care at that point cause you don't know or remember what the character went through) and then it also ends on a 'wait until second season to find out more' note... I hate when shows do that. As a result, the story in this is just... a sad missed opportunity. Nothing is sadder than wasted potential :(

Animation: You know, the animation is alright. Movements aren't super fluid, but they aren't super stiff either. Could have been done better, but not much happens in this show, and as far as it goes, its not too bad... except for when they sing and dance, the lip syncing isn't very good and the dancing seems awkward and ripped from other shows.

The designs for the main girls are cute (though they seem copy pasted and given different color assests), and the manager looks adorable too despite being older than she looks, but everyone else sadly looks ok at best to odd looking at worst (I really wish they stop being lazy with all but the main girls and their designs, its a new cliché that I want to die >M

Sound: The voice acting is passable, nothing too spectacular. Some characters though like the manager and especially Rin just sound annoying and its not always fun to listen to. The professional voice actors that come in are a nice touch and do bring in some flavor and life to this anime, but aside from that, there's not a lot a whole lot.

The music is for the most part forgettable, the opening sounds like something I've heard a billion times before, same going for the other songs in the show like the ones the girls sing at the end complete with lyrics that sound like they were made up on the spot (I could make better lyrics, even Belle from Magical World could do it better... probably).

The only song I like is the ending theme, not only is the song catchy, but almost every episode has them do a request corner that has the voice actors sing songs from popular anime, which is an idea that I really like and wish more anime could do (my favorite is the first one)... technically yeah, Lucky Star did that before this one, but I kind of like how they did it a lot more c:

Characters: Futaba is a shy and nervous rookie voice actor, who has a tendency to overthink what kind of performance she should give. In between jobs, she works part-time at a convenience store. She has a stuffed doll called Korori-chan (コロリちゃん?) that she occasionally voices to in order to give herself encouragement. I really like her despite the missed opportunities for the character, she's relatable and you'd feel sorry for the girl, Futaba also gets developed over the course of the show, well its shoehorned but they at least tried.

Ichigo is a hyperactive girl who often claims to be a princess from a strawberry planet as part of her character (Strawberry girl named Ichigo... how original). She works part-time jobs which she sometimes gets fired from due to absences. Ichigo has a cheerful character that can make Futaba and Rin carried by that atmosphere. She can be pretty annoying at times, but her heart is at the right place a lot of the times.

Rin is a polite 15-year old girl who does voice roles while also attending junior high school. Although her age is the most young, she has an excellent ability as a voice actress... and is also the least developed of the three girls. But at least she's cute.

There is also the manager who tries to be serious but also supportive of her friends, wish she had more screentime and a reason to do and act the way she does though.

Everyone else has none (or at least some traits but for some reason are so bad and I wish they were explored a bit), one trait, or are there for one specific thing and never show up again. They don't even have any interesting backgrounds or much likeability. Aria, this is most certainly not.

I wish I could talk more about the characters, but there really isn't a whole lot and are simply too easy to describe. I feel the show might have benefitted if it had more episodes like Shirobako, Idolmaster, or at least be not as clichéd as I'd hope for it to be.

Enjoyment: I only enjoyed a good portion of the show sadly, if they just had more focus and care put into it, or at least not change shifts and tones every so often, this could have been a simple sweet anime about a girl trying to succeed in the voice acting industry, but instead, we barely got that at all. I mean not even the shows that they did seemed any good unlike Shirobako's.

Overall: What could have been a shorter different take on Shirobako ended up being a watered down version of Wake Up Girls (which wasn't that good either). It started out with so much promise too, but in the end, Seiyu's Life was just another generic and dull anime you'd most likely forget after watching it due to it quickly turning into another fish out of water idol story. I can't in good faith recommend this anime unless you just want to see some pretty girls and don't care that there isn't a strong cohesion with the story and tie ins.

Pros: Promising start, pretty designs for the main girls, Futaba is a likeable and sort of developed lead, ending song is cute and cool, seeing other voice actors is cool too, some decent animation and art.

Cons: Generic backgrounds, forgettable songs, annoying and clichéd opening, as well as a clichéd storyline, idol aspects quickly overtake the rest of the show, some irritating voices, stupid ending, almost none of the characters are memorable and leave much of an impression.

Also Recommend: Shirobako, Koe De Oshigoto(Ok, yeah that one's a lot more dirty, but its not forgettable...actually I'm sure if I should recommend this now), Love Live both seasons (for a better idol show about slowly trying to work ones way up to becoming successful idols)

Thanks for reading my 96th review~

dstroman - 2015-10-22 08:22:39

Sore ga Seiyuu! is another addition to the "meta anime" genre. Like, anime in anime. In this case, we follow a trio of up and coming voice actors, struggling to make a name for themselves. The story is nothing special but engaging, the characters are pretty "default" but lovable. If you're a fan of slice of life style anime I'd recommend it to you. I'll put it this way, its more engaging than Lucky Star! but less engaging than something like Clannad or Mushishi.

Verdict: Watch it if you don't have anything else and want something with some decent quality. Its only 13 episodes so you could finish it in an afternoon.

uluettgen - 2015-09-29 23:06:12

If you have seen or know of a show called Shirobako, you may have noticed they share some similarities in the "slice of life about the animation world". This show in particular focuses on the seiyuu (voice actor) that gives the characters their iconic voices.

Story: 9. Absolutely loved it. Futaba Ichinose is a girl who tries her best to become a seiyuu while battling her own insecurities and learning to cooperate with the people around her. If you're a fan of the slice of life genre, I'd highly recommend this show.

Animation: 8. Not much to say here. The show is produced by Gonzo & Funimation, so it's up to quality standards.

Sound: 8. Again, not much to say. Catchy intro/outro sequences and some really cool cameos from more well known seiyuu.

Character: 9. Gonzo did a great job diversifying the characters for this one. The story follows Futaba primarily, but also has Ichigo Moesaki, the princess from planet strawberry (or so she claims) who brings a very strong supporting role in her defined sense of self as well as the identity she has chosen. The show also features Rin Kohana, a veteran of the industry in spite of her age. The combination of these characters brings a unique variety and well balanced and interesting conversations. The characters support each other as they all experience their respective challenges.

Enjoyment: 9. Foot stomping the characters here, as the focus throughout the entire show is based around the main cast and their personal and professional growth.

Overall: 9. While not the absolute greatest show of all time, I thoroughly enjoyed this show and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the comedy/slice of life genre and wants some insight into the seiyuu industry while they're at it.